Does an ISA expire?

An ISA does not expire. The confusion comes from two different things sharing the same deadline: the account and the allowance. gov.uk is clear on the account, saying “your ISAs will not close when the tax year finishes” and that “you’ll keep your savings on a tax-free basis for as long as you keep the money in your ISA accounts”. The allowance is the part with a yearly cut-off. The table below sorts out which part of an ISA, if any, has an end date.

Does an ISA close at the end of the tax year?

No. The end of the tax year on 5 April does not close your account or remove its tax-free status. gov.uk says your ISAs will not close when the tax year finishes, so the balance, and any interest or growth on it, carries straight into the new tax year still wrapped in the ISA.

What the 5 April date does is end that year’s allowance. The two are easy to mix up because they share a date, but they are separate: one is the pot of money you have already sheltered, which stays put, and the other is the fresh amount you are allowed to add, which resets. So a Cash ISA you opened three years ago is still open today, still tax-free, and able to take new money this tax year if its terms allow.

Does the ISA allowance expire each year?

This is the part that really does expire, and it is where “use it or lose it” comes from. gov.uk says that every tax year you can save up to £20,000 across your ISAs. That limit is for the year only. HMRC’s guidance for ISA managers puts it plainly: an investor who has not subscribed up to the limit in any year “cannot carry forward the difference and add it to the subscription limit for the next year”.

What expires, and what does not

The ISA account

No expiry

Tax-free for as long as the money stays in it

The yearly allowance

£20,000

Resets each 6 April; unused amount is not carried forward

Tax year end

5 April

Closes the allowance, not the account

So if you paid in £5,000 this year, the other £15,000 of the allowance does not roll into next year: on 6 April you simply get a new £20,000 allowance to start again. That is why the days before 5 April matter for topping up, while the account itself needs nothing done to survive the date. Our ISA allowance guide covers the limit in full, and the ISA deadline guide explains the cut-off dates for paying in.

What does an “inactive” or “dormant” ISA mean?

“Inactive” is a provider’s word rather than an HMRC one. Banks and platforms tend to use it, or “non-continuous”, for an account you have not paid new money into for a while. It does not mean the account has expired or that the money is at risk: the balance still earns its interest and still belongs to you. The practical catch is that a provider may need you to reactivate the account, or meet a condition such as a minimum payment, before it will take new money again, so it is worth asking the provider rather than assuming.

“Dormant” has a firmer meaning. gov.uk and HMRC’s guidance count a bank or building society account, including a Cash ISA, as dormant only when “for 15 years or more there have been no transactions carried out by the account holder”. After that a provider can pass the balance to Reclaim Fund Ltd under the Dormant Assets Scheme, but gov.uk says you can reclaim what you are owed at any time. None of this is an expiry. Our guide to finding a lost or dormant ISA explains the free tracing routes and how a reclaim works.

Which ISAs do have an end date?

A handful of ISAs reach a defined point, though in each case it is the product or the account holder’s circumstances that change, not the wrapper quietly expiring.

A fixed-rate Cash ISA has a fixed term, and that term ends on a set date, known as maturity. The account does not vanish: the money usually moves into a default or easy access account with the same provider, and you choose whether to re-fix, transfer or withdraw. Our guide to what happens when a fixed-rate ISA matures walks through the options and the timing.

A Junior ISA has the clearest end point of all. gov.uk says Junior ISAs “automatically turn into an adult ISA when the child turns 18”. The child can become the registered contact at 16, but gov.uk says no money can come out until they turn 18, when they can take out any money in the account. See what happens to a Junior ISA at 18.

A Lifetime ISA does not expire either: payments and the government bonus stop at 50, and the money can be used without a charge from 60, but the account stays open in between.

What happens to an ISA when the holder dies?

A death is the one case where the wrapper is wound up, and even then not immediately. HMRC’s guidance calls it a “continuing account of a deceased investor”, which keeps growing tax-free for a limited time. gov.uk says your ISA ends when your executor closes it or the administration of your estate is completed, and that otherwise “your ISA provider will close your ISA 3 years and 1 day after you die”, whichever of those comes first.

Up to that date there is no Income Tax or Capital Gains Tax on the account, though gov.uk says the investments form part of the estate for Inheritance Tax. A surviving spouse or civil partner may also be able to inherit the allowance. For the full picture, see what happens to your ISA when you die.

How do you close an ISA if you want to?

You can end an ISA yourself at any time. HMRC’s guidance for ISA managers says investors “have the right to close their ISAs whenever they want”, and that requests “do not need to be in writing”. A fixed-rate account may charge for leaving before the term ends, and a Lifetime ISA carries a 25% government withdrawal charge unless you are 60 or over or meet one of the other exceptions, so check the terms first.

One thing closing does not do is give you your allowance back. Once you withdraw money from an ISA that is not flexible, gov.uk says you cannot pay that part back in without it counting against your allowance again. If your aim is to move to a better rate, transfer the ISA rather than close it, so the tax-free wrapper is kept the whole way through. See when it is worth withdrawing from an ISA, how flexible ISAs work and, to compare current rates, our Cash ISA tables.